BEARDED VULTURE. 13 
Tue Lammergeyer, or Lamb-slayer, is becoming one 
of the rarest birds of Europe, though at one time it 
was found in plenty by the chasseurs of the Swiss 
mountains and the Tyrol. Its predatory habits mark 
it as an object of destruction, and in obedience to 
what appears a natural law, like the Red Indian, it 
disappears before the march of civilization. Its home 
is in the wildest and most lonely parts of the grand 
mountains in the Indian and European continents. The 
traveller from the Himalayas meets with it again in 
the dreary Caucasus, as well as in the rocky heights 
of the Tyrol, or the gloomy grandeur of the snow- 
capped Alps. It is found in Egypt, in Syria, in 
Algeria, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in Siberia. 
It is rarest in Switzerland and Germany, though still 
not uncommon in Sardinia. Occasionally it is found 
in France and Spain. 
This bird forms the natural passage from the Vultures 
to the Falcons.. Like the latter it feeds upon living 
prey, and the neck is covered with feathers. On the 
other hand, its alliance with the Vultures is strong and 
decided—in the form of its beak, and in the dispro- 
portionate strength of its talons to the size of the 
body. It also has its eyes even with the head, its 
wings are extended when at rest, and the crop when 
full projects at the bottom of the neck. 
Its principal articles of food are lambs, goats, the 
chamois, and even deer, possession of which it obtains 
by driving them over precipices, and then feeding upon 
the dead bodies where they lie. It has been said to 
attack man himself when asleep, which is not improbable 
as it is a fearless bird in its own wilds. 
The African traveller, Bruce, has given a graphic 
and amusing account of this bird in the fifth volume 
